Budget errors: FG shifts blames on zero budgeting plan

Ministry of Budget and National Planning has stated that the challenge of grappling with the technicalities of the zero budgeting plan as reason for several issues being raised at the ongoing budget defence at the joint session of the National Assembly.

The 2016 proposed budget, which has passed the second reading at the Senate and the House of Representatives, has generated heated debates as most of the representatives of the Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) complained about discrepancies in what they presented and what was brought before the National Assembly for approval.

Members of the joint session of the National Assembly at the ongoing debate of the budget also raised issues on why many of the allocations were either repeated several times or over-priced, and these have made them to doubt the possibility of the budget being passed before the February 26, day set for it.

However, the Ministry of Budget and National Planning in a statement issued by Charles Dafe, its director of information, said the staff of the ministry were still trying to grapple with the technicalities of planning the budget using the zero budgeting approach, hence some errors were “unexpected.”

“The   2016   budget   proposals   submitted   to   the   National Assembly (NASS) by President Mohammadu Buhari, were very well   structured and targeted at reviving the economy, notwithstanding the fall in the oil price. The proposals have received general commendation.

“However, the details   were   developed   using   the   Zero   Based Budget (ZBB) and is a new concept to our Budget Officers away from our traditional envelop process.

“The Budget staff in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, as well as   those   handling   budget issues in all Ministries and Extra Ministerial   Agencies   (MDAs) are grappling to master the technicalities in the ZBB template

“As such therefore, some errors are not unexpected in the changeover to the   new   ZBB   approach.   This   was  the   reason   the   Ministry arranged for the proposals to be placed on the website of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning to expose them to Public scrutiny,” the statement read.

However, the budget ministry assured that it would continue to   liaise with   the   relevant   committees   of   the National Assembly to address any issues that had arisen, or might arise before the budget was passed.

The ministry will continue to train and retrain its staff on capacity building, Dafe said in the statement, but however warned that the ministry had zero-tolerance for malfeasance and whenever any   wrong doing  was alleged,   it  would be   thoroughly investigated and sanctions would be applied.

 

KEHINDE ABDULSALAM